BBC Studios have announced the launch of their high definition channel BBC Prime in Turkey via Türk Telekom’s Tivibu platform from 27th May, with Doctor Who featuring prominently on the new service:


Natasha Hussain, Senior Vice President for MENA at BBC Studios, said:
Türk Telekom TV/OTT Content and Product Director, Ziyad Varol, stated:

Doctor Who kicks off on the channel with a complete run of Peter Capaldi's last series during the afternoon/evening, leading up to the premiere of The Woman Who Fell To Earth. The channel then continues to show Series 11 alongside the rest of the Doctor's high definition adventures over the following weeks (which includes the upscaled special The Next Doctor). You can catch up on the BBC First schedule via This Week in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who has been available in Turkey in standard definition for a number of years via BBC Entertainment Europe (currently broadcasting Series 10).

The next shared Doctor Who viewing organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook takes place this evening (UK):


As with previous discussions, author Neil Gaiman will be giving insights on his episode, this time joined by director Richard Clark and the voice of House, Michael Sheen.

Neil Gaiman also hinted on Twitter:




Don't forget that there is another shared viewing of Silver Nemesis with Sophie Aldred at 6:00pm BST as part of online Time Space Visualiser convention taking place this afternoon on YouTube.

Yesterday evening saw the Radio Times present its own "tweetalong", this time for the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness; this was followed by a live Q&A with its stars John Barrowman and Naoko Mori, and is available to watch via their YouTube channel:

The next in the Doctor Who Lockdown global 'watchathon' events will be in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Eleventh Doctor to our screens this coming Friday 3rd April!


Once again the episode's writer Steven Moffat will be contributing to the Twitter discussion during this episode; speaking on his Instagram account, he also hinted:
Update: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and director Adam Smith will also be participating to the Twitter discussion.

Beforehand, at 5pm BST there will also be a Q&A session, with organiser Emily Cook tweeting:

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You can also support the creative industry behind our entertainment at this time through JustGiving as detailed below:

'Vincent and the Doctor' demonstrates the power of TV. If you'd like to support the creative industry at a difficult time, please donate to the @FilmTVCharity's COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. #DoctorWhoLockdown has a JustGiving page to fundraise... https://t.co/lKPhu94UnI

— Emily Cook #FishCustard (@Emily_Rosina) March 30, 2020

The third in the global 'watchathon' events organised by Doctor Who Magazine's Emily Cook - now entitled The Doctor Who Lockdown - will be eleventh Doctor tale Vincent and the Doctor, taking place on the titular Vincent Van Gogh's birthday, 30th March.

As with previous events, the writer for the story, Richard Curtis will be commenting live on Twitter, but this time Emily and her fellow co-organiser for this viewing, the story's script editor Emma Freud, have also announced the Doctor himself, Matt Smith, will be joining Twitter to participate in the discussion, along with his trusty companion's real-life counterpart Karen Gillan, and the actor who brought Vincent to life in this episode, Tony Curran. Not only that, but the uncredited curator of the Musée d'Orsay, Bill Nighy, will also be joining in!



There is a new YouTube channel for these event, Doctor Who Lockdown, which features videos relating to all the events so far, and more to come!

Following on from the popular global viewing of The Day Of The Doctor last Saturday, a followup event featuring the first episode of 21st Century Doctor Who, Rose is planned for this coming Thursday, 26th March at 7:00pm GMT - the exact time of its fifteenth anniversary! As with #SaveTheDay, viewers around the world are invited to watch the episode and comment along.

With Steven Moffat getting involved last weekend, original writer and showrunner Russell T Davies has announced he too will be rejoining Twitter to join in the fun on Thursday, revealing something special to mark the occasion via his Instagram account:

A new, specially written scene is to be released online tonight at 6:30pm GMT to introduce the #SaveTheDay initiative for an international viewing of the 50th Anniversary story The Day Of The Doctor.

The scene has been written by the story's writer and former showrunner Steven Moffat; organiser Emily Cook told Radio Times:
Details of the scene, and who will present it, are being kept under wraps, but the writer has briefly returned to Twitter to celebrate the event, saying:

The worldwide "watchathon" takes place at 7:00pm GMT/3:00pm ET/6:00am AEDT/8:00am NZDT.
Tweet #SaveTheDay

Today at 7:00pm GMT, Doctor Who fans (and anybody else who wants to join in!) all around the world are invited to join in a special global viewing of the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who adventure, The Day Of The Doctor!

Organised by Doctor Who Magazine writer, Emily Cook, the idea is to bring some cheer during the current global pandemic by fans watching episodes simultaneously and sharing their views together as the stories unfold. Back in 2013, The Day Of The Doctor achieved a world record for the number of viewers globally, and this story has been chosen to kick off this new shared experience, using the hashtag that promoted the anniversary, #SaveTheDay.


If successful, further shared viewing days could follow, with provisional ideas including the 21st Century Doctor Who premiere Rose on 26th March to celebrate its 15th anniversary, and the eleventh Doctor opener The Eleventh Hour on 3rd April in celebration of its 10th anniversary!